//------------------------------// // Answers // Story: The Cult of Chaos // by PegasusKlondike //------------------------------// Starswirl levitated the human to his laboratory. He might try to get some answers out of the monster before he ripped out its intestines to hang it with for what he did to the children. He slammed the human onto an exam table, forcing magical bonds to hold down his hands and feet. Starswirl placed its strange dagger on a nearby table. He turned back to the human, the first thing he noticed was that this one was vastly different from any other human he had seen. Their skins came in many colors, white, tan, black, shades of yellow, but never gray. Even the eyes seemed like some kind of gray mirror image of a normal human. He began his interrogation. "Who are you, who sent you?" The demon's gaze floated over to Starswirl, hatred flowing with every blink. The monster remained stoic. "Why did you murder the king and his children? TELL ME DAMN IT!" The gray human only smiled at the unicorn's anger. "I'm going to start counting, and every time I reach three I'll remove an inch of your hide with my teeth, demon. NOW WHY DID YOU MURDER THEM?!" The stoic human maintained his silence. His head turned to the dagger that lay unreachable on the table, his bound hands reaching futilely for it. Starswirl could not control his anger, lifting a hoof he crushed the human's hand on the table, expecting a cry of pain as bones crunched under his hoof. The human looked at the unicorn in annoyance, then continued to futilely reach for his object of desire. "What in the hell are you, demon? A cold soulless murderer, or just a hired blade?" He looked at the dagger, "You want that? I'll give it to you, I'll plant it straight in your heart if you want it so badly!" Starswirl grabbed the dagger in his mouth, putting his forelegs on top of the table he positioned the blade to fall directly into his heart. The gray man seemed eager for this to happen, his death filled eyes egging on the aged unicorn with memories of the murdered royal family, all of the guards and servants that had fallen under the same blade. "Master! No!" Starswirl snapped out of his rage fueled fog. His student Clover stood in the door to the laboratory, her mouth open and her eyes watered with fear. "Clover...." he looked at himself, at the demon monster that he had almost become, like the one he had almost murdered in cold blood. Starswirl dropped the dagger, the cold steel rang on the floor. Running to his student he threw his forelegs around her neck, thanking her for saving his soul. "Clover, you should not be here. Do you know what happened?" "Yes Master. The guards are all saying the pegasi have murdered the royal family. Their feathers and weapons are at all of the crime scenes! I was so concerned for you Master, I came right here as soon as I heard." "The pegasus ponies?" "Yes Master, and some refugees from the countryside are saying that the earth pony Chancellor was murdered too by creatures with pegasus weapons." Starswirl turned back to the immobilized human, walking to the table he was strapped to. "What is your goal? Do you want war between the pony tribes?" The human did not respond. Clover crept closer to the bound man, turning her head and squinting her eyes to try and get a better view of this strange creature. "Master, what is that thing?" "It is a human Clover. Our old enemies from the War. I am surprised you did not know what it was. They are still fairly common." Clover got closer to the stoic human. "Why is it here? Why were you going to kill it?" Starswirl sighed. "This is the actual assassin Clover. This creature and a few of its companions murdered the entire royal family. And I would guess they did the same for Chancellor Breezemane as well. If only I could get it to talk!" Clover looked at the human closely, scrutinizing him with her clever eyes. "He doesn't have to talk. Why don't we look into his memories?" Starswirl was impressed by her mental clarity in such a situation. "Clover, I have known you since before you got your cutie mark, yet you still never cease to surprise me." His horn glowed with magic, he lowered it to the human's head to access his memories. Almost instantly he came up against a wall, preventing him from seeing inside. He tried to go around, but could not find a way in. "Damn, his memories seem to be blocked off, like somepony was anticipating this. It's almost like his memories have been erased." Clover thought for a second, her hoof rubbing her chin like Starswirl always did when trying to think. An idea burst her cloud of thought. Magic flared to her horn and she touched it to the human's head. His pale skin began to take on color in a wave of magic that spread from his head to his toes. Once complete he began to scream in pain and fear. "Clover! What did you do?!" Starswirl shouted as he pulled the filly away from the screaming human. "I brought back his memories with a spell that the healers use on ponies with concussions." "Well it seems to have the side effect of changing him back to normal. Human, what is your name?" The human screamed in agony, struggling against his bonds. "Make the pain stop!" he cried. "Clover, get the pain relief potion from the shelf over there, quickly!" The mauve unicorn filly fetched the vial from the shelf, passing it to her master. "Human, open your mouth and drink this." The screaming human had to be told twice before he complied, reluctantly drinking the pain potion. His wracking pain from his injuries seemed to alleviate, slightly. "Now human, tell me your name." The man panted and gasped from his pain. "Alex." "Alex, who sent you?" The human's eyes grew large and he almost wailed in fear, "Leviathan! The monster of the apocalypse!" He was shivering now, possibly in fear, possibly from the pain of his wounds. "Why did you murder the royal family? Tell me Alex!" "Monster! I killed them all..." he was weeping now, remembering how he had murdered the young foals of the king in cold blood. "...he wants war..." "The War has been over for a decade, why would this 'Leviathan' want to rekindle a lost cause?" "Not our War...he wants you to fight each other...make yourselves weak...God forgive me! I'm a monster!" Clover stepped forward to the human. "It's alright Mr. Alex, you didn't do those things. You were under the influence of dark magic." The shivering, weeping man looked to Starswirl, "You have to stop them...north, go north...not far....save our souls." He screamed in pain again, his back arching off the table. Starswirl dumped another bottle of the potion into the man's mouth. Still he convulsed in pain, Starswirl ripped off the human's shirt to look for additional wounds, right above his heart was a small, pulsating scratch where the tip of his dagger had scratched before Starswirl had ripped it away from him. "We have to remove the poison, Clover!" "NO! There is no saving me...blade is cursed to kill its bearer....I'm already dead." The human was breaking into tears again. "Don't let Him succeed, save our souls. God, forgive me please." he closed his eyes, awaiting the black magic curse to take effect. Clover looked at the dying man with pity, this was the first time she had ever seen suffering like this, much less something on the verge of death. She placed a hoof on his shoulder. "I forgive you." The man opened his eyes and looked to the unicorn filly. "Thank you." He convulsed and began to scream, a burning heat emanating from his body. Starswirl pulled Clover away as the human turned to ash. Over on the table his dagger turned to the same fine dust as its former wielder. "And so dies our evidence, and our hope of reuniting our nations." ******************************************************************************************** Cloud Hoof sat in his kitchen with his wife and filly, eating a simple breakfast of grains and oats. Hurricane's punishment was over, her black eye healed back the her normal blue fur tone. Cloud was reading an old human book, determined to understand their culture. But this one didn't seem to match up with any of their history, probably another one of their near infinite works of fiction. Damn good book though. "How come Dad gets to read at the table, but I can't?" Starshine looked to her husband. "Cloud, no books at the table." "Mhm, I'll do it this afternoon Star." he said without thought. "Cloud!" "Fine." he set down the book, determined to finish it sometime later, maybe check the archives to find the sequels. Whoever this 'Aragorn' character was, he knew his way around a sword and more importantly around a fine woman. Kind of like himself, Cloud liked to think. "So I was in the market earlier this morning, some of the soldiers are saying that the earth ponies and unicorns were attacked last night." Starshine said to the occupants of the table. Cloud spit up his mouthful of coffee, "WHAT?!? How do you know this and I, the Commanding General of the Army, do not?!" "Gossip typically travels faster than actual messages Cloud. Besides, it's just gossip, if something actually happened we would know about it by now." As if on cue a messenger burst in through their front door, scattering the clouds it was formed from. "General sir!" she snapped a salute. "At ease private, what is your message?" "The earth ponies and the unicorns suffered fatal assassinations last night, Chancellor Breezemane and King Silverhair were murdered! And the news gets worse!" "How could it possibly get any worse!?" "The other tribes are holding US responsible! Below Cloudsdale the militias of the earth ponies and a host of unicorns are assembling, calling for justice!" "How could they possibly think such a thing? Private, take an order to all units, do not under any circumstance engage the aggressors!" Cloud stood flew from his dining room, up to his bedroom to don his black armor. He stopped in his kitchen again to address his family. "Starshine, Hurricane, if I can't talk this through in a few hours, I want you both to go as far east as you possibly can, take refuge with the gryphon king Grelkas." "Daddy, what's gonna happen?" "I don't know, let's just hope I can talk some sense into them." Cloud grabbed an old toga, tearing it into strips that he tied on a pole. With his white flag of parley he leapt from the clouds. Landing softly between the two armies he stuck his flag into the ground. A unicorn general approached, along with a militia leader from the earth ponies. Cloud removed his laconic helmet to show his face. "General Cloud Hoof! As representative of the pegasus tribe, you are hereby under arrest!" "Under what charges?!" "Murder, conspiracy to commit murder, infanticide, and an attempted political coup!" "Impossible! My tribe would never do such things." "General, we know you personally are incapable of such acts, but in the stead of your tribe we must ask you to come back to Canterlot to face trial." "If it will end this madness, I will consent to represent my tribe." Cloud kicked over his white flag of parley as a pair of unicorns bound his hooves. ************************************************************************ King Golden Flame held the honorary title of judge for this trial of the pegasi. After his cousin's brutal murder he had assumed the throne as soon as he could get back to Canterlot. He mourned greatly for the loss of his family, especially Silverhair's children, who he loved like his own Platinum. A large delegation of earth pony militia leaders and town mayors took the right side of the massive throne room. The House leaders and nobles of the unicorns took the left side. Chained and stripped of his armor, General Cloud Hoof sat dead center, representing his entire tribe. King Golden Flame opened with his accusations. "General Cloud Hoof, you stand accused of the murder of King Silverhair and Chancellor Breezemane along with the slaughter of dozens of others around them. How do you plead?" The massive door to the throne room slammed open. "We all plead 'not guilty'!" The entire Ephor council of Cloudsdale had come to his defense, Cloud placed a hoof on his face, thinking that this day could not get any worse. Taking a flighted position above the other tribes, the robed council ponies acted as his defense. "I must say that for once, I agree with my fellow Ephors." Cloud acceded. "We pegasi are innocent of any crime, where is the proof of your charges?" An earth pony prosecutor walked forward with a bundle on his back. "Here is all the evidence I need of your treachery!" He unfurled the bundle, throwing a bloody sword to the floor. "This sword was found coated in the blood of our Chancellor, next to the mutilated corpses of his children! And these as well, wing feathers from one of you pegasus ponies!" He threw down a bundle of feathers for the king to see. "Those prove nothing!" shouted Ephor Storm Chaser. King Golden Flame slammed his rod of office as a gavel. "Order! General Cloud Hoof, is this not a sword carried, without exception, by your soldiers and only your soldiers?" Cloud looked over the weapon, "Yes your honor, this blade is of pegasus make and carry." "Then is it not possible that one of your soldiers went rogue and murdered the Chancellor and his family?" "Anything is possible your honor, but a single warrior going on a killing spree, murdering everypony of importance? That your honor is next to impossible!" The king's eyes slanted. "Watch your tone General, my cousin and his children were among the nearly forty ponies that died last night!" "Your honor, Cloudsdale has ever been the watchful protector of our lands, why would we turn on our allies and brethren?" A unicorn House leader yelled his accusation. "It is common knowledge that you brutes resented Silverhair for removing you from Canterlot, it only makes sense that you would murder him to try and regain your position in this city!" Storm Chaser retorted. "Silverhair was a bigot! Even if we did want back into this city, why would we bother to kill Chancellor Breezemane? That is a casualty that makes no sense!" The earth pony prosecutor attacked back, "You both think you are so superior to us earth ponies, demanding your tributes like some kind of conquerors! Breezemane constantly fought against the tributes, I think this is some kind of conspiracy to put us in our place by both unicorns and pegasi!" The earth pony delegation stamped their agreement. "ORDER!" King Golden Flame slammed his rod of office, resounding his call for order throughout the hall. The three tribes eventually settled. "General Cloud Hoof, I present my own evidence." From the side of the throne he levitated the dagger of a pegasus warrior and the emblem one wore on his toga. "These were found in the royal nursery Cloud, the dagger plunged into the heart of my nephew, he was barely old enough to walk, Cloud. This emblem was near crown prince Silvergaze when we found him this morning. He died fighting off an unknown attacker. Silvergaze had great prowess with the sword, and the only ponies he said that had greater natural skill than himself were the pegasus warriors. Feathers from the wing of a pegasus were found in the nursery and the bedchambers of Queen Azalea." "Your honor, I mourn the loss of your family as much as you do. Such a tragedy cannot go unpunished, but we must find the true killers before they strike again." "Cloud Hoof, with all evidence pointing towards the pegasi, I am afraid we must point to you as well." "THE PEGASI ARE INNOCENT!" an elder voice shouted from the back of the courtroom. Cloud Hoof turned to see an old friend, "Starswirl..." "And what proof do you have Starswirl? All evidence points to a pegasus military conspiracy." Starswirl took his place next to Cloud. "This was not the work of the pegasus ponies, nor was it the work of any pony at all!" The whole court leaned forward to hear the mage's revelation, King Golden Flame included. "This whole assassination was a plot by the humans! They murdered the leaders of the earth ponies and the unicorns in an attempt to turn us against one another, to weaken us!" "Starswirl, these claims are incredible, what proof do you have that this was the work of the Demons?" "I captured one of the assassins this morning, but he died and his body burned away. He was under the influence of extremely dark magic, possessed by some monster he called Leviathan." The whole courtroom murmured, some in disbelief, others in anger. "And you conveniently have no evidence of this Demon assassin? Starswirl, your friendship with Cloud Hoof is well noted, how can we be sure you are honest and not trying to defend an old friend?" "This human was different, my apprentice cast a spell of memory on him, and it changed him back to a normal human being, not a Chaos Plague monster. He claimed that this was only the beginning, that this Leviathan wanted our tribes to go to war with one another. And that Leviathan was stealing their souls and making them do horrible things." "And where is this 'Leviathan', Starswirl?" "The human said that he was to the north, in a human settlement. We should take action before they realize their failure to tear us apart and strike again." The unicorn king leaned back in his throne, placing his hooves on his temples, rubbing them slowly. "Let me get this straight Starswirl, you claim, with no evidence, that a group of humans infiltrated our most secure city and murdered the old king and blamed the pegasi. Whereas the prosecution claims, with plenty of evidence and motivation, that a group of rogue pegasus warriors assassinated the king AND the chancellor and left a trail of evidence a mile wide." "In a nutshell, that is my argument, my king." King Golden Flame had to make a decision, find the pegasi guilty, war breaks out and untold numbers of ponies suffer and die. On the other hoof, he goes on a wild goose chase looking for a cult of humans being reigned over by some monster of dark magic, most likely finds nothing and war breaks out amongst the pony tribes anyways. Without deliberation he decided to give Starswirl a chance. "Starswirl, I grant the pegasus ponies temporary reprieve from this court of law, but only on the condition that you personally can provide evidence of such a claim." The old unicorn bowed to his king. "It shall be done, but I must make a request. General Cloud Hoof and some of his warriors must come with me to find these humans." The king was taken aback, "I cannot allow such a thing Starswirl, what if they flee, what if they turn on you?" "Then you will send some of your warriors with us, and why not a few of the earth ponies as well?" The leaders of the various delegations murmured to one another, distrust ran rife, but a possible outside threat could not be ignored. And from their oldest enemies nonetheless. Storm Chaser landed with a soft clatter of his hooves, "We, the pegasus delegation, agree to these terms." The prosecuting unicorn noble received a few nods from very influential House heads. "We unicorns agree to these terms." The earth pony that had taken charge of his people's prosecution sighed. "As representative of the earth ponies, I agree to these terms as well." King Golden Flame nodded. "Very well, Starswirl the Bearded, you and General Cloud Hoof will seek out proof of this human threat, doing all in your power to stop it if possible. You will be escorted by three warriors from each tribe. You begin your search as soon as possible, tomorrow if it is necessary. This court is adjourned." He ended the odd case with a slam of his rod of office. Ponies of all tribes began to talk amongst themselves and file out of the massive doors. Cloud turned to his old companion. "Well, is there really a human threat?" "It is worse than you could possibly imagine, gather your things, we have a dangerous road ahead of us."